We are back in Comodoro Rivadavia for a couple of hours to get the bus up to Trelew (about 280 kms North along the coast line).

A few notes on our first impressions on Argentina:- Most shops close from 12pm to 5pm for lunch and siesta (its summer now)

- Smoking is not banned in bars and restaurants. We expected this in all South America, but were surprised to find out that Chile had banned it already in all public places.

- Argentinans in Patagonia like loud cars...very loud. Mostly they are old, but they seem to be prepared especially to increase the sound.

- The best part of Sarmiento was the lack of foreign tourists actually staying there. Most travel from Comodoro to the pretrified forrest and back in the day in organised "canned intelectual" tours. However all the hotels were packed with Argentinians which were mostly related to the petroleum business.

- We are lucky to be travelling around in this month as every town has a "Fiesta de Folklore y Doma" (music and horse riding similar to the Rodeo we went to in Chile). This is a specifically local fiesta with very few tourists so a good way of absorbing the local atmosphere and culture.

- Coffee is actually quite good in Argentina...none of the Nescafe stuff they served in Chile (everywhere).

- Buildings are mostly built with brick and cement - similar to European construction. There are not too many wooden buildings or shacks as we saw in Chile.